The R/V Maria S. Merian is owned by the Federal Republic of Germany and is operated by the Institute for Baltic Sea Research at Warnemunde. The cruise took place in March-April 2011. The cruise area included Tropical Atlantic. Seventy one (71) measurement series spanning 19 days were acquired.

Dr. Maija Heller from Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (Kiel, Germany) was the Principal Investigator for optical depth measurements and operated a sunphotometer onboard assisted by Ms. Kathrin Wuttig from the same institution.